DOCUMENTS charting what may have been the genesis of one of Britain's premier racing venues are to be auctioned in Swindon.

The Lambourn-related lots on sale next Wednesday at Dominic Winter Book Auctions in Maxwell Street are expected to raise up to £400.

One set, written on vellum in 1834, details the arrangements for the sale of the manor and lordship of Lambourn, along with the lands and associated buildings and revenues, including the rectory and parsonage of Chipping Lambourn.

The other documents are sales records tracing the ownership of the Berkshire village's Red Lion Inn, which still exists, throughout the 19th Century.

Richard Westwood Brooks, the auction house's documents expert, said: "This group of documents, obviously of tremendous interest to anyone who is interested in the local history of the village or in the development of the valley as the world famous centre of horse racing which it has become today.

"It is not often that such a detailed and important document as that relating to the sale of the manor comes on the market. We are sure it will attract considerable interest, as it gives a vivid snapshot of just what was happening in the area three years before the start of the reign of Queen Victoria. It could be, of course, that it was this very document which began the process of the valley's horse racing tradition, in which case this is a very exciting document indeed."